When I ask someone to appear before the Home Affairs Committee there is always a degree of shadow boxing about their availability, times have to be checked and appointments moved. Not so with Sir Paul.

There are many negative feelings one might reasonably have towards Gordon Brown - pity, disappointment or even anger - but hatred? Pure, visceral, unadulterated hatred? I'm not sure where that comes from - but wherever it is, it's a dark and unpleasant place indeed...

The damage to Rupert Murdoch's multi-billion-dollar global media empire has already become much more extensive than most would have imagined only a week ago and this damage will most likely extend to the rest of the news industry.